Debbie Dyer wrote: >company exists already test you could remove known extensions from the input >company name - ltd, plc, etc - and replace this with a wildcard for the >check. > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "DonPro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>information is the company name, address, city and state/province of their >>customer. I have to assign a unique number to their customer based on the >>information they typed in. >> >>Here is my problem: >> >>1) They may enter the same customer twice but have a slightly different >>spelling (maybe adding a LTD. to the company name) >>2) Two of my customers may have the same customer. They will type it into >> Sorry this post is OT. I think name matching is quite a problem, I've never found a foolproof way around it. Debbie's answer is good for the question you ask, but still many cases fall through. In the UK, "British Telecom" years ago changed its name to "BT" but both get used. "Post Office" changed its name to "Consignia" and now back again to "Post Office". Then one company buys out another e.g. "Foo Ltd" buys "Bar Ltd". I don't think you should go by the name alone.
Use the post/zip code too. In the UK, a street number (or name) plus the postcode is unique to a building (though it does not help with several companies/appartments in the same building). The post/zip code matching will not help with companies with more than one site. HTH Chris -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
